. Dr Scott

By NAKUBIANA SHABONGO
 –

VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott has said statisticians did not have the capacity to give Government an accurate figure of how many jobs it has created.


He said this is why Government had criticism coming from the opposition that the PF had not created as many jobs.


“When we ask the Central Statistical Office (CSO) for figures, they give us figures based on the growth rates of employment before we came into power. They say 2008 it was growing by five per cent a year, so we are going right into the PF’s period to get the projected number,” he
said.


He was speaking at the handover of a project vehicle to the United Street Vendor Foundation Cooperative for the quick wins on Job Creation through the Street Vendor Programme in Lusaka yesterday.


Dr Scott said the PF had done things that were specifically designed to increase employment which was not done by the previous administration.


“So what you are looking at is a big vacuum in information, we have told the CSO we want figures for 2013 January 1st to 31st December. We want to see how many jobs we created, we don’t want to listen to some statistical manipulation of all the information,” he said.


He also called on the vendors to be serious and acquire trust.
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Peter Kasanda, said Government’s strategy to industrialise and create jobs would improve citizens’ livelihood.


Mr Kasanda said growth areas of tourism, manufacturing, construction and agriculture had been identified as having the greatest potential to create wealth.


He said Government had been working with the United Street Vendors Cooperation for the past two years in order to mobilise a road map.
Armscor, chief executive officer Paul Malherbe said his firm assists Government with skills development of the private sector.


He said such partnerships with Government, development agencies and the private sector with a goal to improve human capital development are the only ways to address the challenges street vendors faced.